Too much online play harms OTB results ?

Just curious if others had experienced this.  So use to playing internet chess, thought I would do well again in OTB play, but did terrible.  Blundering pieces and missing simple combinations. 

I think if you plan on playing OTB tournaments, a couple of weeks before the event stop playing on the internet.  I think it takes time to adjust from just seeing the board in 2d online and seeing and playing on actual board.  At least this was my experience.

I must agree with you. Even playing a chess app where the pieces are made to appear in 3D just totally takes away my board vision.

It has nothing to do with 2D and 3D.

I can study a book on a 2D board on my laptop, and play fine on a 3D board that weekend.

The problem is that OTB chess is not the same thing as playing any form of chess online.

Live Chess Online is for the most part blitz.  Occasionally you might get a longer game in, but never one where each side has 2 1/2 hours.  The play is more rapid, and people don't take time to calculate fully.  They cut the analysis short, and hope they didn't screw up.

Correspondence Chess you have the extra benefit of books and databases, along with engines on certain sites that allow them.  You can't use any of that in OTB play.  Some players just use the book or engine for everything, and are learning viturally nothing because they don't take it seriously, or they try to play too many games at once.

Online Blitz may be a way to wind down if you are really tired or if you literally have just 15 minutes or so to do something then you are busy.  Those that try to play online blitz expecting improvement are sadly mistaking.

ONE HOUR of taking out a book and a board, and putting serious studying in (i.e. not just pushing wood), is the equivalent to TWELVE HOURS of internet blitz!

This is why you can't use ratings here to judge people.  The best rating to use to determine your strength is either FIDE or some other OTB Organization, like USCF.  Your strong chess players will have their OTB rating as being the highest.  Your weak chess players will have a higher blitz rating, but a very low OTB rating.  Your correspondence players depend on how they go about it.  If they use an engine and play a lot of games, they aren't really learning anything, and when they go to an OTB game, they'll get in time trouble.

If you want to play in serious tournaments, curb your play on here, and study more.  I have almost 2400 OTB games lifetime.  Trust me, I would know!

I find online chess in moderation helps OTB play. I believe 2D is easier for the brain to understand than a three dimensional set and the best we can do is be aware of it.

I find that I just simply play better OTB than computer screen chess all the time. there is some sort of predisposition with the screen where I can't concentrate like I would OTB. maybe it's just me but I guess I am ok with that.

I rarely use a real set for study or analysis. I have two monitors so I have everything I need at my fingertips. Don't waste time moving pieces around, don't have to look away to read an ebook or pdf/check engine suggestions. You can also do tactics one after another that are aimed at your level. You can track progress easier, it's just the greatest thing. The future of chess.

Depends on one's history. Older people like me have decades of experience playing on a board long before internet chess existed. So I feel no difficulties adjusting from diagram to board. But perhaps this is a problem for young people who learned chess looking at a diagram.

79Abraxas79 wrote:

Just curious if others had experienced this.  So use to playing internet chess, thought I would do well again in OTB play, but did terrible.  Blundering pieces and missing simple combinations. 

I think if you plan on playing OTB tournaments, a couple of weeks before the event stop playing on the internet.  I think it takes time to adjust from just seeing the board in 2d online and seeing and playing on actual board.  At least this was my experience.

Interesting experience from me.

Actually, I think the it shouldn't really harm your play if you use your time wisely.

I found out that bullets & blitzes help me recognise the opening stage. Online chess (correspondence) is good for spotting some tactics and endgames. 

simply different from person to person.

I guess I just take it more seriously when I am playing OTB.

Plus there is no distractions whatsoever compared to playing online.

I was listening to a BBC Radio 4 interview with John Nunn today and he claimed that Magnus Carlsen doesn't have a chess board in his house at all, training solely on the computer.  Hard to believe but it doesn't seem to be doing him much harm.

Carlsen doesn't need a board in his house. I am pretty sure Magnus can visualize one single game in his head. He remembers over 10,000 games to the point where you can give a particular position and he could tell you which among the 10,000 it is from. (And I cannot even do that for a game I played 2 days ago)

Carlsen's a human. I'm sure he uses a board just like everyone else because even world class players do not calculate in their head offhand. For example, the way I calculate is by grafting an imaginary board onto the real board. It's like meditation, I just stare at the board and visualization is so relaxation that my intuition kicks in. Computers totally throw me off. I can't meditate on the board because the bright screen gives me a headache and the 2d pieces suck. I wish it was easier to meditate on 2d boards.

"For example, the way I calculate is by grafting an imaginary board onto the real board."

Interesting. Do you feel the need to move your eyes around focussing on specific squares or does it all appear in front of you. Also, let us say you are focussing on the centre, do you see the pieces at the very periphery of the board in your mind's eye.

How does it work?

I cannot even visualize colour!

I move my eyes around the board, imagining the pieces in different places. I basically let my eyes wander sometimes until I find a move I like, then I play it instantly. If I need to calculate I do, but I try to calculate as little as possible, my intuition takes care of most moves.

The problem has nothing to do with the switch from 2D board to 3D board.Most likely,the vast majority of your online games will be speed chess(bullet-blitz).As is well-known,too much speed chess does cause your classical chess skill to deteriorate,mainly through the development of bad habits, not the least of which is getting used to constantly playing suboptimal moves,good enough for blitz.On the other hand,if most of your OTB games are speed chess,then online chess will certainly help.

Yep I was already using that formula. When the letter and number are both odd/even the colour is black, else it is white. But I wasn't able to understand how to extrapolate this 'verbal determination' to a 'visual pattern'. I will read through the rest of the post completely - since the author appears to go in that direction.

Old topic is old, but whatever, this came up on Google. I suck at OTB. I blunder my queen almost every game. I cannot see the board as a whole and how the pieces relate to each other.  It has taken me quite awhile to see bishop lines well online. Now in OTB it's like bishop and knight attacks are invisible. Plus playing in person makes me incredibly nervous for some reason. Then the time gets to me more than anything. It doesn't seem to bother me online, but OTB I feel like 15 minutes = 30 seconds. Maybe if I did a few warm up games with a friend before playing seriously it might help to get my eyes focused and release the jitters.

But anyone who thinks 2D and OTB aren't any different are way off. Maybe your games are in sync, but they are completely different to visualize without dedicated effort to solving the issue.